Undeniably, doctors have a pretty hectic schedule to keep up with. Besides their core job which is to attend to patients, they all need to take part in several administrative works of a clinic like filling patient reports, submitting check-up reports, maintaining a diary of appointments, and sometimes even attend phone calls for critical patients seeking telephonic consultations.
Now, any private small-time clinic with good doctors in the row often feels overwhelmed with their daily doings. While hiring an assistant can always be an option, the budget plays a crucial role and sometimes one assistant is not enough to handle tasks on a daily basis. Nevertheless, there’s always a way out – and in this case, it comes in the shape of a virtual assistant.
You will be surprised to know that you can hire a virtual assistant at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time assistant for your clinic. A Virtual Assistant or more popularly known as a VA does not have to occupy a physical space in your clinic. Instead, he or she sits in front of the PC remotely and can be working from anywhere using nothing but a solid internet connection and a host of other technologies and tools. In most cases, they don’t even need to reside in the same country as that of your clinic.
This post is geared towards answering all your queries regarding hiring a VA for your clinic or as an individual doctor, and how it can help save time and money in tandem.
One of the major plus points of hiring a VA for your clinic is to be able to delegate to him/her a range of recurring tasks. These are essential things that you have to do all by yourself at your clinic every single day, and although it does not impact your profit, there’s no respite from it and eats the sunshine hours of your day.
Take answering phone calls for instance. It’s seemingly one of the most common things that clinics handle, especially the number at the front desk – it just won’t stop ringing!
A typical clinic faces all sorts of calls coming from patients –whether it’s for fixing appointments, asking about their test results, or general questions about medicines prescribed or regarding the availability of a specialist doctor.
A VA is readily aware of the nuances of handling phone calls and dealing with customers as they do the same across a majority of projects they work on. Thus, they are your best choice in answering phone calls, calendar management, scheduling appointments, and directing emergency calls to the clinic as and when required.
Virtual assistants are well-honed to create or maintain existing patient databases. Additionally, they can also follow up with patients and remind them about their next appointment, schedule new consultations, and a lot more. Thus, not only makes it easy for the clinics to keep their data organized but also makes it convenient for a doctor to track down his patients and upcoming appointments or a particularly important case.
It’s not very uncommon for any doctor running a private clinic to double book patients. Now, when you look at things from a patient’s perspective, they all expect a doctor to be organized and always be in sync with his schedule. However, in reality, you might lose track of your appointments, especially if you are a specialist doctor with a reputation to go by. In other words, it means you always have to deal with a diary full of appointments which increases the chances of double bookings or an appointment clashing with another. This is where a virtual assistant cuts in and takes over the task of calendar management, allowing you to always catch up with the schedule, no matter how busy the scenario.
Similar to phone calls, email management can also be a tad bit tedious for most private clinics and doctors. Simply put, emails assume a greater chunk of what one might refer to as administrative tasks. However, replying to emails takes time and understanding and tracking a particular case by reopening patient history from the file case. And there’s a bunch of them, as these emails are not only restricted to come from patients but also from medical company representatives as well as leading medical bodies who might want to connect or invite you for a doctors conference. If you lose the thread in here, you invariably trigger things towards a greater mess.
With a virtual assistant by your side, you can avoid the hassles easily and ensure that every single email is being looked at, and an appropriate reply is drafted and sent. Additionally, your VA can filter out emergency emails that need your urgent concern.
So, you see, considering a VA for a doctor or a small-time clinic with budget constraints is undoubtedly the best decision. It will not only help you put things back on track but also snatch you the much-needed peace of mind to focus on your core tasks and do well!
At TasksLeader, our past experiences working with clients from the healthcare and medical sector makes us proficient in helping doctors and clinics carry out their daily tasks with ease. As a plus point, we have specially curated virtual assistance service plans on offer to meet your needs and business type.
